Sora and the Cloud

December 5, 2011
Sepia-tinted images set the tone for this warm and inviting bilingual fantasy from Hoshino (Little Sap and Monsieur Rodin). Sora is a preschooler who likes to climb; he finds his way up into a tree and from there onto a cloud, which sails away, offering him aerial views of a construction site, an amusement park, and a city. Close inspection of some of the curious details in the spreads—the construction workers are building with a child’s wooden blocks, the amusement park is populated with squirrels—signal that the journey is a dream. Its origins are found tucked away on the title page; the cloud is hanging on a mobile above Sora’s crib, the amusement park guests are modeled on the squirrel toy on the floor, and so on. Sora and the cloud sail over a clearly recognizable San Francisco before rain starts to fall and Sora dozes: “As grey clouds gather and raindrops tickle his face... Sora dreams of splashing in big puddles.” A line-by-line Japanese translation (but no transliteration) allows parents of both cultures to
offer read-alouds, while end notes define Japanese expressions and explain cultural elements. Ages 3–8.

December 15, 2011
A cloud carries a delighted lad over a city and an amusement park, past kites and fireworks, then on to dreams. A fearless climber since toddlerdom, young Sora (Japanese for "Sky") takes on a tree one day and finds a smiling, pink-cheeked cloud in the branches. Clambering aboard, he floats over streets and other sights before drifting off to sleep--dreaming of puddles as the cloud floats through a rain shower and of digging in sand after a seagull's cry--and then gently coming back to Earth. Adding Japanese decorations to kites and other details, plus occasional touches of subtle humor (when Sora looks down at a busy playground his "Look! Ants!" is not a figure of speech), Hoshino illustrates this idyll with delicately colored paper-collage and paint scenes featuring semitransparent figures in harmonious compositions. Likewise, her poetic narrative ("From way, waaay, waaaay up in the sky, / fireworks whisper like the soft pitter-pattering of your heart") is not only paralleled by a Japanese translation but extended by Japanese exclamations in the pictures and explanatory notes at the end. An airy flight of imagination, bi-cultural as well as bilingual. (Picture book. 6-8)

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May 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 1-An adventurous young boy takes flight on a friendly cloud in this delightful whirlwind of a daydream. The story is artfully structured, with reality turning to fantasy as Sora (a name that means "sky" in Japanese) climbs a tree and hops aboard a cloud for a whimsical journey above the city. His fanciful vision gently gives way to reality again when he drifts to sleep on the cloud and dreams of pleasures grounded in everyday life, like splashing in puddles and digging in sand at the beach. Sora's airborne fantasy is charmingly depicted with a dreamlike palette of pastel colors. Young readers will revel in finding visual connections within the illustrations as they identify repeated motifs. They will also enjoy poring over the intricately detailed spreads that show a bustling city street and an old-fashioned amusement park. The San Francisco setting in combination with the bilingual text deftly shows the child's Japanese American identity. Non-Japanese speakers won't miss anything vital due to the cultural and translation notes that introduce Japanese vocabulary and enrich readers' experience. Children will want to revisit Sora's imaginary adventure again and again.-Allison Tran, Mission Viejo Library, CA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.